Pedestal clock

One of the most magnificent and important clocks in the Wallace Collection, this is one of a group of four that demonstrate the possible collaboration between the architect Gilles-Marie Oppenordt and the cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle. Whilst the marquetry has been attributed to Boulle on stylistic grounds, including the motif on the rear of the back panel of the clock case, which also appears on a wardrobe in the Wallace Collection (F429), the design of the gilt-bronze figures and the Hercules medallion can be attributed to Oppenordt.

Clocks such as this were always intended to be seen on a pedestal, which added height and monumentality to the timepiece; in this instance, they stand together nearly three metres high. The sense of grandeur is enhanced by the lavish gilt-bronze decoration, which comprises four figures representing the four continents of the known world: Europe, Asia, America and Africa, each dressed in a manner easily identifiable to contemporaries. The gilt-bronze medallion on the pedestal augments this allusion to the all-encompassing nature of time, as Atlas passes the celestial globe to Hercules. The model is often referred to as the 'Four Continents Clock'.

The other clocks are in the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Paris Arsenal and Waddesdon Manor. The figures of the four continents also appear on a clock attributed to Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt, Gilles-Marie’s cabinetmaker father, in the J. Paul Getty Museum.